The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), which has been at the forefront of anti-farm law protests, has expelled ‘farmer leader’ Rakesh Tikait from the organisation, according to reports.
Besides Rakesh Tikait, his brother Naresh Tikait has also been ousted from the position of the National President of BKU. Republic TV reported that the duo has been accused of playing politics and working for a political party’s interests. Not happy with the organisation’s involvement with politics, several leaders of BKU decided end their associations with Rakesh Tikait.
The farmer’s organisation has been split into two factions, with the breakaway BKU (Apolitical) faction being led by farmer leader Rajesh Singh Chauhan. While speaking about the development, Chauhan had accused the Tikait brothers of politicising BKU, which was supposedly created to serve the interest of farmers.
#BREAKING #RepublicExclusive | Rakesh Tikait, accused by farmer leaders of playing politics, expelled from Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)
— Republic (@republic) May 15, 2022
Tune in to watch here – https://t.co/eQ1um6CfRp pic.twitter.com/fiecJpW5dx
The new BKU (apolitical) chief remarked, “We have no comment on Rakesh Tikait, or Naresh Tikait, they can keep doing what they want to do. But the BKU was turned into a political zone. It was inspired by politics.”
He emphasised, “We spoke to Rakesh Tikait and expressed our concerns. We did a lot of hard work to create BKU, but he asked us to support one party. We object to that. Our motive is to look into the problems of farmers. We will not work for any party.”
On November 19 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a startling announcement saying that the government had decided to repeal the 3 farm laws, which had become the bone of contention between farmer protestors and the Union government.
Naresh Tikait supported SP-RLD alliance, but Rakesh Tikait contradicted him
Earlier in January this year, a video had emerged on social media in which Naresh Tikait was heard throwing his weight behind the SP-RLD alliance ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. This was despite the warning of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha that any farmer organisation contesting elections would have to leave the United Front.
Naresh Tikait had reportedly sent out messages to both the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), encouraging them to contest the UP elections by labelling it as a ‘matter of prestige.’
A meeting was also organised in this regard at the Kisan Bhavan in Tikait’s native village Sisauli in the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. Rakesh Tikait was also present in the meeting, where support to the joint candidates of SP and RLD, fielded from Budhana and Meerapur found a special mention.
Rakesh Tikait, who was at the vanguard leading the farmers’ protest against the Modi government’s farm laws contradicted his brother’s claim. Clarifying that BKU has not favoured any political alliance, he said that his party would communicate the same through their official social media handle.
“If someone comes to our house, we say ‘we are with you’. We are not telling anyone whom to vote for. We have decided that we will not support anyone. Even if we are against the government, everyone (the people) knows what they have to do,” Rakesh Tikait had claimed.
